good bread!

DAY 4 (of our new life in Peru):  We stumble upon a big organic festival at a nearby park. Turns out it is the first of its kind in this city and one of very few events like this throughout the entire country. The organic movement is just starting to make an appearance in Peru. We buy a loaf of thick, hearty whole grain bread at one of the booths.

David with some friends at the "Festi Organico" back in May.

DAY 7:  We've already polished off the bread. But we're not worried. We naively think that we'll be able to find similar bread elsewhere.


DAY 8-36:  We search in vain throughout the city for good bread, but to no avail. We make a few attempts at trying pan itegral (whole grain bread), but it turns out to be basically white bread with some brown food coloring and maybe some oat crumbs sprinkled on top. In the meantime, David settles for eating the little loaves of white bread we can buy at a tienda around the corner from our house -- 5 mini loaves for 35 cents.


DAY 37ish:  We've pretty much given up hope of finding good bread. David enthusiasm begins to fade for the mini loaves. (Side note: when I was young my family used to call it "poison white bread." We kids loved going to Grandmom's house because she always let us eat white bread. And put sugar on our cereal. And watch TV.) Anyway, by this point I have pretty much resigned myself to a bread-less year, except for occasional sandwiches on ciabatta.


DAY 66:  On my trip back to Peru, after spending a month in the States with my family, I utilize 3 precious pounds of my luggage weight allowance to bring back my Pampered Chef bread pan. Evidently I haven't fully resigned myself to a bread-less year because now I am determined to figure out a way to make decent bread.

DAY 73:  While shopping at a tiny little organic market that takes place across town on Saturday mornings, David notices a man wearing a YMCA shirt. "Those are the people who were selling that good bread!" (Incredible memory, my love.) We approach a gringo-looking couple and begin a conversation with them. Turns out they are missionaries from Germany and yes, in fact, they were the ones selling bread at the festival a couple months ago. One of their projects here has been to start a bakery and teach women how to bake and a the business. They are delighted to add us to their list of clients. We are overjoyed. And we are salivating.


DAY 76:  It turns out this German couple lives just a few blocks away from us, and on Day 76 (yesterday) the man stops by our house with a freshly baked loaf of delicious, hearty, whole grain bread.

It's been about 15 hours since the bread was dropped off, and it's nearly half gone.